The Legislature is expected to vote tonight on a budget package that includes the abolishment of the California Integrated Waste Management Board and the transferring of all its functions to the Natural Resources Agency.

This reorganization will not result in any general fund savings and will deprive waste stakeholders to recourse to a board structure, which in the past has allowed for extensive public input and has ensured that controversial decisions are made in public.

Current language transfers all functions of CIWMB to a "Department of Resources, Recycling and Recovery" in the Natural Resources Agency. The Department of Conservation, which currently administers the Bottle Bill, will also be moved to this new department. The language calls for the creation of a Director of Resources, Recycling and Recovery, to be appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the Senate, which will hear and decide appeals to decisions made by the new department.